Carpet material

ABSTRACT

GETHER AND FORMING A BACKING FOR THE CARPET, WHILE THE TREAD SIDE IS SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF BINDER AND HAS SAID FIBER ENDS DISPOSED THEREIN AND ADJACENT THERETO.   CARPET CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A NEEDLED NON-WOVEN FLEECE HAVING A FLOORSIDE AND A TREAD SIDE, SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING FIBERS FORMING THE BODY OF THE FLEECE, AND, SECURING THE FIBERS OF THE BODY OF THE FLEECE TOGETHER, GENERALLY VERTICALLY EXTENDING NEEDLED FIBERS HAVING LOOPED SECTIONS ON THE FLOOR SIDE OF THE FLEECE AND FREE FIBER ENDS ADJACENT THE TREAD SIDE THEREOF, THE FLOOR SIDE AND THE TREAD SIDE BEING DISTINGUISED FROM EACH OTHER IN THAT THE FLOOR SIDE HARBORS SAID LOOPED SECTIONS AND IS IMPREGNATED WITH A BINDER SECURING FIBERS OF THE FLEECE TO-

June 13, 1972 D. BISCHOFF 3,669,819

CARPET MATERIAL Filed April 20,1970

FIG. I.

INVENTOR DIETER BISCHOFF ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent Int. Cl. D04h 11/00 US. Cl. 161-66 5 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE 'Carpet consisting essentially of a needlednon-woven fleece having a floorside and a tread side, substantiallyhorizontally extending fibers forming the body of the fleece, and,securing the fibers of the body of the fleece together, generallyvertically extending needled fibers having looped sections on the floorside of the fleece and free fiber ends adjacent the tread side thereof,the floor side and the tread side being distinguished from each other inthat the floor side harbors said looped sections and is impregnated witha binder securing fibers of the fleece together and forming a backingfor the carpet, while the tread side is substantially free of binder andhas said fiber ends disposed therein and adjacent thereto.

BACKGROUND The invention relates to a novel carpeting or other suchfloor covering material.

It is in the prior art to needle loose matting onto a supporting fabricsuch as jute, and to use the material, after impregnation with a bindingagent in some cases, as a floor covering, the needled mat layer servingas the surface. With this procedure, however, there is the disadvantagethat, when the mat is needled onto a supporting layer the latter isconsiderably damaged, so that the desired effect, namely the supportingof the carpet material, is lost at least in part. Furthermore, thefibers needled into the jute can easily be pulled out of it.

THE INVENTION Now, it is the aim of the invention to eliminate thedisadvantages described, and at the same time to enable the supportinglayers commonly used hitherto to be dispensed with.

Another object of the invention is imparting resistance to bacteria andfungi in a way resulting in substantial advantages.

According to the invention, a carpet material is provided whichcomprises a non-woven matting needled one or more times and which isimpregnated as such, e.g. to approximately /3 of its depth (i.e. height,measured from the floor side of the fleece) with a binding agent. Thefibers are bonded by the binder.

To carry out the invention it is desirable first to needle a loose fibermatting coming from the comb. Details on this procedure can be obtainedfrom the book, Nonwoven Fabrics, published by Nonwoven Associates, PO.Box 328, Cambridge, Mass., copyright 1959, pp. 19 and 25. If it isdesired to produce a thick carpet material, it is recommended that looseslivers also coming from the combs be deposited on the slivers then beneedled into the first layer.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a schematic showing of a needled fleece; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic showing of the fleece with binder applied thereto.

The needled web of non-woven material that is formed has a structuresuch as the one schematically indicated in 3,669,819 Patented June 13,1972 "ice FIG. 1 of the annexed drawing. In the mat coming from the combthe fibers 1 lie substantially horizontally, i.e. parallel to the sufaceof the thin web. In the needling process, some of the fibers whichoriginally were lying parallel, are set generally vertically orperpendicular to their original orientation. These needled fibers 2 thusform loops 3 on the surface of the mat, while on the opposite surfacethe free ends 4 of the loops protrude.

These free loops, shown in FIG. 1 can easily be removed by pulling themin the direction of the arrow. Since the needled surface, i.e., the oneon which the loops are located, usually, in the prior art, serves as thetread surface, the fibers are pulled out of the needled matting to someextent when the matting is walked on.

Now, as depicted in FIG. 2, the invention provides that the needled matis impregnated from the loop side with a binding agent 5, e.g. ahigh-percentage, latex foam. The loop side, i.e. the side harboringloops 3, forms the lower or floor side of the carpet; the free fiberends 4, are disposed at or adjacent the tread side or upper side of thecarpet.

The foam impregnation process is known from US. Pats. Nos. 2,338,960,2,719,795, 2,719,802, 2,719,803, and 2,719,806. For its performance theneedled matting is passed through the gap between two rolls and at thesame time foam is introduced into the fleece by the rolls. In contrastto the former procedure, however, the foam 5 is made to penetrate onlyto a limited depth, e.g. about two thirds of the depth of the needledmat.

The preferred binding agent is a self-vulcanizingstyrene-butadiene-latex. In this case it is suflicient to dry the matbriefly at C. after the foam impregnation. If a non-self-vulcanizingbinding agent is used, the mat has to be heated for a longer period athigher temperatures in order to bring about a complete vulcanization orsetting of the binding agent.

In use as a carpet, the dried material is laid on the fioor in such amanner that the binding agent-free side having the open, projectingextremities 4 of the needled fibers 2 serves as the tread, or walked on,surface. If one pulls at the two extremities, the fibers cannot bepulled out, because on the back they are firmly anchored in the fabricby a loop and the binder.

Such a carpet is also substantially softer to walk on than onemanufactured merely according to FIG. 1, in which the loop side servesas the tread surface and in which a binding agent, if any, is uniformlydistributed in the matting.

A special optical effect can also be achieved by clipping the protrudingfree fiber ends. An apparatus that serves for shearing sheep can be usedfor the purpose.

If desired, the back of this carpeting can also be cemented to astiffening support such as cork and/or asphalt. The material can bemarketed then in the form of tiles of a size of, for example, 30 x 30cm.

Whereas in tiles of this kind the edges formerly had visible seamsbetween them when laid, in the new material the edges are not visible,since the binding agent-free pile surface of the one tile merges withthe pile of the adjacent one.

The carpeting manufactured according to the invention proves to beespecially advantageous because it can be used without the supportingfabric otherwise commonly used in needled felt sheet materials.Furthermore, it has a plush-like appearance and feel over its entiresurface, which is to be attributed to the fact that the tread surfaceitself, as previously mentioned, is practically free of binding agent.

It has been observed that bacteria and fungi are able to grow betweenthe fibers of floor covering. It is therefore an aim of the invention toconstruct the described floor coverings in such a manner that they aresubstantially bacteria and fungi resistant.

This is accomplished according to the invention by including in thebinding agent a bactericidal and/ or fungicidal agent. Since the binderis not present at or adjacent the tread surface, the tendency for soilto adhere to the mat is not adversely affected by the binder.

For the practical manufacture of these bacteria-resistant floorcoverings, it is sufficient to add small quantities of a fungicidaland/or bactericidal agent to the binding agent. Surprisingly, the actionof the bactericidal or fungicidal agents is not adversely affectedeither by the binding agent or by the treatment at elevated temperaturethat follows.

In other words, it is possible to proceed as usual in the manufacture ofnon-woven carpeting containing binding agent. All that need be done isto add to the binding agent small quantities of the fungicidal orbactericidal agent. When the final product contains as little as 0.05 to1% of these agents, a complete or very great resistance to bacteria andfungi is achieved.

The fibers can be dyed. The penetration of the binder can be Va- A thedepth of the carpet; it is preferably about The length of the fibers canbe 40-100 mm., preferably 60-80 mm.; the denier can be 6-40, preferably6-47. The Weight of the fleece or mate can be 200-1200, preferably250-800, without binder, and 300-700, preferably 330-880, with binder,the weight units being g./m.

EXAMPLE From polypropylene fibers of an average length of 60 mm.v anddeniers, a non-woven matting is prepared having a weight of 450 g./m.This matting is needled, and then impregnated with a 50%?butadiene-styrene latex by the foam-impregnating method. To 100 g. ofthis latex 12.7 g. of additive mixture is added. Thisadditive mixtureconsists of Parts by weight Sulfur 0.2 Zinc oxide 5.0 Thiuram 3.0Anti-aging agent MB 1.0 Vultamol surfactant dispersing agent 0.5 Water15.0

- Then the matting is impregnated to a wet absorption becan be broughtabout by adding only 0.01 part by weight of the Sanitized agent to theabove-mentioned additive mixture. It is surprising that the bactericidaland fungicidal agents are elfective even though, e.g. only two-thirds ofthe carpet depth is impregnated, i.e., the impregnation does not extendas far as the surface of the carpeting. Were the impregnating materialto extend to the surface, it would detract from the appearance andincrease the soiling susceptability of the carpet.

What is claimed is:

1. Carpet consisting essentially of a needle non-woven fleece having afloor side and a tread side, substantially horizontallyextending fibersforming the body of the fleece, and, securing the fibers of the body ofthe fleece together, generally vertically extending needled fibershaving looped sections on the floor side of the fleece and free fiberends adjacent the tread side thereof, the floor side and the tread sidebeing distinguished from each other in that the floor side harbors saidlooped sections and is impregnated with a cured, self-vulcanizing latexfoam binder extending from said floor side upwardly to about two-thirdsof the height of the fleece securing fibers of the fleece together andforming a backing for the carpet, while the tread sied is substantiallyfree of binder and has said fiber ends disposed therein and adjacentthereto.

2. Carpet according to claim 1, wherein said binder has admixedtherewith an effective amount of a bactericidal agent, and wherein theportion of the fleece which is substantially free of binder is alsosubstantially free of said agent.

3. Carpet according to claim 1, wherein said binder has admixedtherewith an effective amount of a fungicidal agent, and wherein theportion of the fleece which is substantially free of binder is alsosubstantially free of said agent.

4. Carpet according to claim 2, the fibers consisting essentially ofpolypropylene.

5. Carpet according to claim 3, the fibers consisting essentially ofpolypropylene.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,373,033 4/1945 Kopplin1-6l--154 2,480,984 9/1949 Van Issum 161-50 3,285,796 11/ 1966McElhinney 161-62 3,352,739 11/1967 Blue 161-67 3,383,273 5/1968 Pearsonet a1. 2872.2 3,481,821 12/ 1969 =Brunner et al. 161-67 3,506,479 4/1970Breens et al. 161-67 3,497,414- 2/ 1970 Blue 1-61-81 WILLIAM J. VANBALEN, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

UNKTED STATES PATENT OFFEE CERTEFICATE OF CORRECTION v 3,669,819 DatedJune 13, 1972 Patent No.

Invcntor(s) Dieter Bischoff It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Col. 3, line 26, reads "300-700" and should be --30o-17oo--.

Col. 4, line 24 reads sied" and should be --side--.

Signed and sealed this 17th day of October 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

i ROBERT GOTTSCHALK EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents

